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DE RUEHBS #1105/01 2221548
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R 101548Z AUG 09
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEU/EU INTEREST COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001105 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/ERA, EUR/RPM 
E.O.: 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EINT ECPS PTER EUN
SUBJECT:  EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT:  INTRODUCING THE NEW CIVIL LIBERTIES, 
JUSTICE, AND HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE 
 
Ref: A) USEU BRUSSELS 826, B) USEU BRUSSELS 1075 
Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please handle accordingly. 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: In the past, the European Parliament's (EP) Civil 
Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) served as the 
EP's platform for debate on often controversial issues regarding 
U.S. policy, including Guantanamo detainees and data transfer.  If 
the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, the new committee will have 
significantly expanded legislative powers over many of these areas. 
This report provides an initial look at LIBE's new leadership.  END 
SUMMARY. 
----------------------------------- 
THE COMMITTEE'S EXPECTED NEW MUSCLE 
----------------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) With the notable exception of asylum and migration issues, 
the European Parliament (EP) currently lacks formal decision-making 
power in many areas of responsibility of the Civil Liberties, 
Justice, and Home Affairs Committee (abbreviated by the French 
acronym LIBE).  In fact, EU Member States, meeting as the Council, 
have often ignored the EP's opinion on justice and home affairs 
issues.  For example, in 2004 Member States disregarded the EP's 
determination that the U.S.-EU Passenger Name Records agreement for 
the transfer of airline data was illegal; in 2008 the Council 
ignored the EP's insistence that governments explain their alleged 
involvement in renditions and secret prisons. 
¶3. (SBU) However, the ratification and entry-into-force of the 
Lisbon Treaty (which could be as early as January 2010) would expand 
the EP's competence in many of LIBE's areas.  The EP would have 
legislative control over policies relating to border control, visas, 
and immigration.  Moreover, EP assent would be necessary to 
implement a large number of agreements concluded with third 
countries.  Data privacy and transfer will likely continue to take 
center stage, as LIBE already began pointed discussion over the 
issue of the U.S. Terror Finance Tracking Program (TFTP) and SWIFT 
(bank information data transfer to the U.S.) during its first 
meeting in July. 
¶4. (SBU) For these reasons, the new committee will be more important 
to the USG than ever before.  While several fierce opponents to U.S. 
data privacy and anti-terrorism policies, including Dutch Liberal 
Sophie In't Veld and UK Liberal Baroness Ludford, will remain very 
active on the committee, there are several newcomers in key 
leadership positions who have shown more openness towards the United 
States.  We will be actively working to expand relations with these 
individuals, as well as the proven transatlantic MEPs, during the 
upcoming session. 
------------------------------ 
WHO'S WHO IN THE NEW COMMITTEE 
------------------------------ 
¶5. (SBU) The LIBE committee leaders and political group coordinators 
(with the exception of the Socialist-Democrat group coordinator, who 
has not yet been appointed) are: 
 
-- Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, Chairman (Socialist-Democrat S&D 
group, Spain): A constitutional lawyer and a regional politician in 
the Spanish Canary Islands, Aguilar was Justice Minister in the 
Zapatero government from 2004-2007.  He studied in the U.S. and 
earned a Masters Degree in Law and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School 
of Law and Diplomacy. 
 
-- Kinga Gal, First Vice-Chairwoman (EPP, Hungary): A lawyer 
specializing in human rights, Gal has been an MEP since 2004 and has 
focused mainly on the protection of minorities (with special 
interest for the Roma population). 
 
-- Sophie In't Veld, Second Vice-Chairwoman (ALDE, Netherlands): An 
MEP since 2004, In't Veld has made her reputation as a "data privacy 
passionaria."  She was a vocal opponent on data transfer to the 
U.S., on the issues of Guantanamo, and on the alleged extraordinary 
renditions.  In't Veld in 2007 filed a FOIA action in U.S. District 
Court in the District of Columbia seeking access to any records the 
Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and State held on her in 
their databases, which she later dropped. 
 
-- Salvatore Iacolino, Third Vice Chairman: (EPP, Italy): A new MEP, 
Iacolino's career has been in local government where he worked on 
regional development, reform of public administration, and sanitary 
development. 
 
-- Kinga Goencz, Fourth Vice-Chairman (S&D, Hungary): Former 
Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs from April 2006 to April 2009, 
Goencz is also the daughter of former President Arpad Goncz.  In 
interviews she has criticized the former Bush administration, but 
expressed hope for further cooperation with the new U.S. 
administration. 
 
-- Simon Busuttil, EPP coordinator (Malta): A lawyer by profession, 
Busuttil has been a MEP since 1994 and has been active in 
immigration policy and border management.  In 2008 he traveled to 
Washington as part of an EP delegation to discuss border and visa 
issues with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and he noted 
after his return that the EU had a lot to learn from the U.S. on 
 
BRUSSELS 00001105  002 OF 002 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: In the past, the European Parliament's (EP) Civil 
Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) served as the 
EP's platform for debate on often controversial issues regarding 
U.S. policy, including Guantanamo detainees and data transfer.  If 
the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, the new committee will have 
significantly expanded legislative powers over many of these areas. 
This report provides an initial look at LIBE's new leadership.  END 
SUMMARY. 
----------------------------------- 
THE COMMITTEE'S EXPECTED NEW MUSCLE 
----------------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) With the notable exception of asylum and migration issues, 
the European Parliament (EP) currently lacks formal decision-making 
power in many areas of responsibility of the Civil Liberties, 
Justice, and Home Affairs Committee (abbreviated by the French 
acronym LIBE).  In fact, EU Member States, meeting as the Council, 
have often ignored the EP's opinion on justice and home affairs 
issues.  For example, in 2004 Member States disregarded the EP's 
determination that the U.S.-EU Passenger Name Records agreement for 
the transfer of airline data was illegal; in 2008 the Council 
ignored the EP's insistence that governments explain their alleged 
involvement in renditions and secret prisons. 
¶3. (SBU) However, the ratification and entry-into-force of the 
Lisbon Treaty (which could be as early as January 2010) would expand 
the EP's competence 
--- LIBE ed) are: 
 
border management. 
 
-- Csaba Sogor, Second EPP coordiQator (Romania): A theologian and 
Presbyterian priest, Sogor represents the Hungarian minor)ty in 
Romania and has championed minority rights, including for the Roma. 
 
 
-- Jeanine Henni 
former European Commission official, Hennis-PQasschaert was elected 
MEP in 2004.  A member of the Transport Committee (and substitute in 
LIBE) in the previous term, she was the drafteQ of a report on 
airport security, where she aQgued that security should not impede 
free competition.  She is a strong supporter of data privacy and is 
opposed to the current conditions for data transfer to the U.S. 
 
-- Raul Romeva I Rueda, Green coordinator (Spain): A professor of 
international relations, Rueda has worked at the UN and is close to 
NGOs, such as OXFAM. He has been an MEP since 2004 and is only a 
substitute member of the LIBE committee.  His main interests are 
human rights, disarmament and development.  He was also an active 
and critical (substitute) member of the Temporary Committee on the 
Alleged Use of European Countries by the CIA for the Transport and 
Illegal Detention of Prisoners ("CIA Committee"). 
 
-- Timothy Kirkhope, ECR coordinator (UK): A British Conservative 
MEP since 1999, Kirkhope has occasionally been the leader of the 
Tories delegation since 2004. Under-Secretary of State at the UK 
Home Office in the 1990s, he was in charge of immigration and 
international police cooperation.  In 2003, he led a commission on 
asylum and immigration, making the recommendation for the UK 
conservative policy on these issues.  Kirkhope was also an active 
member of the temporary CIA Committee and was one of the rare MEPs 
to strongly oppose the EP's conclusions, stressing that the 
committee had been driven by an anti-American agenda. 
 
MURRAY